WTA Rankings Report – As of March 4, 2024

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Two smaller American tournaments, with most of the top players taking a breather between Middle East 1000s and U.S. 1000s, meant a lot of great opportunities for lower-ranked players to make moves ahead of the Sunshine Double.

It was Katie Boulter and the still-unknown Chinese player Yuan Yue who took full advantage.

There are mo moves in the top 20; Jessica Pegula and Beatriz Haddad Maia were the only players among them in action.

ATP Rankings Report – As of March 4, 2024

For the complete, updated WTA rankings for March 4, click here.

Emma Navarro (USA): No. 26 ===========> No. 23 (Navarro gets back to her career high with a semifinal effort in San Diego. She was well beaten by Katie Boulter but will be seeded at Indian Wells this week).

Katie Boulter (GBR): No. 49 ===========> No. 27 (Boulter, 27, has come into her own after an early rise, some injuries, the pandemic and struggles. She moves up to an appropriate and career high No. 27 by winning in San Diego. It’s her first WTA 500 title and second title overall. And she does it the samem weekend her beau Alex de Minaur wins the ATP 500 in Acapulco. He moved heaven and earth to get up in the middle of the night over night to get to San Diego to support her. Awwwww).

Dayana Yastremska (UKR): No. 34 ===========> No. 31 (Yastremska only won one round in San Diego, but in a right section of the rankings it was enough to move her up three, and cement a spot among the Indian Wells seeds).

Marta Kostyuk (UKR): No. 34 ===========> No. 31 (Kostyuk had a great week in San Diego and moved closer to her recent career high. But fell just one match short in Sunday’s final.

Yue Yuan (CHN): No. 68 ===========> No. 49 (Far more obscure than most of her Chinese contemporaries, the 25-year-old has come in as a late bloomer, reaching a career high with her first career WTA title in Austin).

Wang Xiyu (CHN): No. 64 ===========> No. 52 (Wang, a lefty from China, had some breaks along the way but made the Austin final. She fell just short to her lower-ranked, lesser known opponent in a rare all-Chinese final outside of their own country.

Taylor Townsend (USA): No. 83 ===========> No. 77 (Townsend only won one round in Austin – No. 8 seed Yuan Yue beat her. But it was enough to move into the top 80).

Daria Saville (AUS): No. 148 ===========> No. 116 (The 29-year-old has been working her way back from major knee surgery and is still playing on a protected ranking. She took a big step by qualifying and making the quarterfinals in San Diego. Ultimately, she ran out of gas against Navarro. She’s using her protected ranking to get straight into Indian Wells).

Taylah Preston (AUS): No. 153 ===========> No. 138 (It’s been a fruitful swing in Mexico and the US for the 18-year-old, who got a wild card into San Diego and won a round, bringing her to another career high. She’s the No. 3 Australia, although none of them are in the top 100 at the moment).

Marina Stakusic (CAN): No. 283 ===========> No. 221 (Stakusic breezed through the qualifying in San Diego on a good draw and took Donna Vekic to three sets before going down in the second round. Needless to say, it’s a career high for the 19-year-old).

Anastasija Sevastova (LAT): No. 485 ===========> No. 384 (Playing with a protected ranking as she comes back from a long injury/maternity absence, the Latvian, now 33, makes the Austin quarterfinals and moves up more than 100 spots. She retired in that match; she’s using her protected ranking again to make the main draw at Indian Wells).

Caroline Garcia (FRA): No. 23 ===========> No. 26 (Idle this week, Garcia drops her points from last year’s Monterrey final, and three more spots in the rankings. She has fourth-round points coming up for defence at Indian Wells).

Donna Vekic (CRO): No. 28 ===========> No. 36 (Vekic made the quarterfinals in San Diego, but that wasn’t enough to offset her points from winning the Monterrey event the same week a year ago. So she drops out of the top 30 and may have made her Indian Wells road tougher – not the least of which is because she may well have to play an extra round).

Danielle Collins (USA): No. 48 ===========> No. 56 (Collins drops out of the top 50 after her quarterfinal effort in Austin wasn’t enough to offset her semifinal last year. She dealt with back issues and retired in that match, which won’t help her spirits ahead of Indian Wells this week).

Varvara Gracheva (FRA): No. 55 ===========> No. 68 (It’s been nearly a year since the Russian became a naturalized Frenchwoman. But it’s been a year in which her results haven’t been what she’d want. She made the quarterfinals in Bad Homberg, theh first week she was officially French. She has won back-to-back main draw matches just … once since then, in Auckland with two wins over players ranked outside the top 150. Gracheva lost in the first round in San Diego, dropping her points from making the final in Austin a year ago. And she has runs from the qualifying to the fourth round to defend both at Indian Wells and Miami – 300 points in all. It’s crunch time).

Bianca Andreescu (CAN): No. 142 ===========> No. 145 (No, we don’t know when she’s coming back. Although we do know she has third-round points to defend at Indian Wells, and fourth-round points to defend in Miami – where she notably had to retire after a painful ankle injury that required her getting carted off in a wheelchair. The loss of those points will drop her outside the top 200. She will be able to use a protected ranking when she does return, though).

Heather Watson (GBR): No. 131 ===========> No. 147 (Watson drops points from her effort in Austin a year ago, where she qualified and made the second round. She lost to No. 16 seed Rebeka Masarova in the first round of Indian Wells qualifying).